Karma Cola & Best Ugly Bagels had a jam session

Karma Cola & Best Ugly Bagels had a jam session

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Best Ugly Bagels and Karma Cola have created a good tasting, do gooding bagel. The ‘Karma Bagel’, made with cherry and cola jam, is raising money for cola families in Sierra Leone and launches June 1st.

Long before advertising and catchy jingles, people living in West Africa have said, ‘He who brings cola brings life’. The tag line comes from the same place real cola grows and it really does bring life. In Sierra Leone cola nut is chewed for energy, it’s used in rituals to celebrate birth and marriage, and to bring people together. And now it’s bringing people together in New Zealand across the four Best Ugly Bagel locations in Auckland and Wellington.

In karmic fashion, the cola jam not only tastes good, it does good too. Every Karma Bagel will donate $1 to the Karma Cola Foundation, which supports cola farmers in Sierra Leone.

The two businesses began experimenting a while ago. “Best Ugly Bagels support the Karma Cola Foundation by stocking our drinks but we wanted to do something else. We decided to create a special bagel that combines their talent and flavour with our cola and does something more than just taste great,” says Simon Coley, Karma Cola’s co-founder.

It’s great to see companies getting out there and doing genuine good: and we love to be able to support the people that support us. For me it’s not just about raising funds, it’s also about raising awareness of a great initiative.” says Al Brown, chef and founder of Best Ugly Bagels.

“One of our talented team members used cola concentrate for the jam, extracted from West African cola nuts,” says Al. “Cola is extremely bitter, unlike anything found in New Zealand, and we experimented until we got the right mix of sharp and sweet.”

The Karma Cola Foundation helps cola farmers and their families get back on their feet after a ten year civil war and recently Ebola. Fostering independence, not dependence.

“The foundation supports a lot of initiatives like educating children, building infrastructure, future proofing food supplies and helping people set up their own businesses. Ideas that help eight villages become independent through trade rather than dependent on charity”.

The Karma Cola Foundation has given over NZD150,000 to the people of Boma and Tiwai communities in Sierra Leone since they’ve been trading.

“We’re into things that taste good and do good and when we get to work with other outfits with great taste like Best Ugly Bagels it doesn’t get much better” says Coley.

* The Karma Bagel is available at all Best Ugly Bagels stores for the month of June. $1 from every bagel donates to the Karma Cola Foundation and the ongoing tally will be posted on www.karmacola.co.nz

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